PROTESTERS picketed an estate agent to support a mother who could face eviction.

Beverly Bishop has lived at a house in Albion Hill in the Hanover area of Brighton for nearly two years, which she says is damp-riddled and has affected the health of her teenage daughter.

She wants to stay on another 12-month tenancy at a higher rate of rent but was served with an eviction notice by Wilkinson’s Estate Agents and the landlord in April.

She said: “I could be homeless by June.

“I don’t have the money to pay for a move, and don’t have enough for a deposit.

“It’s so scary.

“I’m supposed to be there for my daughter, to look after her and provide her with a home."

Ms Bishop said that she has been told that she handed back her contract “too late”.

She said: “My daughter gets frequent tonsillitis, so I have to go and sleep on the sofa as she can’t go in her room.

“The wall has been stripped back to the bare plaster, it’s getting worse and worse. It smells horrible and there are bits flaking off the wall.”

Ms Bishop turned to the Acorn tenants union for help, and the group called a protest outside Wilkinson’s Estate Agents in Elm Grove on Saturday.

Dozens gathered to support her case, including East Brighton Councillor Nancy Platts who has called on the agents to take immediate action to contact Ms Bishop.

Acorn branch coordinator Paul Williams said: “We are protesting to stop our member from being made homeless.

“Ms Bishop was happy to pay the increase in rent, which she has already started paying. ”

Wilkinson’s Estate Agents was contacted for comment.